Japanese Car Makers Ask Govt to Delay the EV Policy

The government has been asked by the automakers to shelve the National Electric Vehicle Policy (NEVP) for a year as they deal with falling sales due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The Engineering Development Board (EDB) has been asked by Suzuki and Honda to delay the electric and hybrid vehicles policy 2020-2025. Masafumi Harano, CEO, Pak Suzuki and Maqsoodur Rehman, Vice-President Honda Atlas have written separate letters to EDB in this regard.

The delay in the announcement would give the industry more time for brainstorming and industry will also get much-needed time to recover from the current situation.

According to the information available, car sales have fallen by 43.4% to 79,537 units during the first eight months of the current fiscal year.

Apart from this, they have asked that the incentives should be the same for both, hybrid as well as EVs. Since they are new and the sector would need fresh substantial investment for its production and the incentives could help generate employment, auto sector’s growth and increased revenue for the government.

The auto industry development committee last month decided on the tariff rates for cars, SUVs and light commercial vehicles. Interestingly, the rates listed in the draft policy issued by EDB were completely different, they said.

Suzuki and Honda have suggested that for the hybrid and EVs, the tariff rates should be the ones mentioned in the committee and the NEVP policy amended to show this.